The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Whatever Happened to … ?

Posted on | November 8, 2020 | Comments Off on Whatever Happened to … ?

. . . Jonah Goldberg, for example.

Most days now, I don’t even realize he exists, unless Ace goes off on him, and then I’m like, “Oh, he’s still around?”

One of the things we have gained from the Trump era is the knowledge that some people were never really on our side. They were conservatism’s fair-weather friends, and when the going got tough, they jumped over to the other side. Because “principles”! Well, damn you, sir, and damn your “principles,” whatever they may be. We don’t really care.

Some of the #NeverTrump crowd were people who never mattered anyway. Who had ever heard of the “expert” Tom Nichols before 2016? He was an obscurity before Trump came along, and being anti-Trump gave him a certain amount of relevance for a while. If we are now going to be compelled to endure four years of Biden-Harris, we can at least comfort ourselves with the knowledge that Tom Nichols will henceforth cease to be relevant, not that he was ever actually relevant. He was pseudo-relevant for a while, but now? Sayonara, Tom.

Our gain from this is immeasurable, and their loss is complete.

If the Republican Establishment is under the illusion that they can go back to business as usual, they are due for a disillusionment.

The 71 million Americans who voted to re-elect President Trump are not all hard-core America First populists. Most of them are just regular Republicans, the same people who pulled the lever for Mitt Romney in 2012, and will vote for whoever the GOP nominates in 2024.

What will make a difference, however, is that the #NeverTrump crowd has discredited themselves. They have permanently forfeited their influence with the Republican grassroots. Three years from now, when the GOP primary field is taking shape, no Republican voter is going to be seeking advice from the likes of Rick Wilson or Jennifer Rubin.

By the way — I mention this because it’s important — there were some conservatives who weren’t all-in for Trump in 2016 who nevertheless later realized that the #NeverTrump movement was over, and they came around quickly, doing yeoman’s work in the Russian “collusion” struggle, the Brett Kavanaugh nomination fight, and so on down the line. There shall be no penalty to those people. We absolve them of them of their previous errors, whereas those who stayed on the #NeverTrump bus all the way to 2020 have forever discredited themselves.

As my co-blogger Smitty pointed out yesterday, Trump will not just go away quietly next January, if Biden is inaugurated. Who do you think is going to be the featured speaker at CPAC next year? Maybe you should ask Matt Schlapp that question. I think I can guess the answer.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is all about “archiving these Trump sycophants” as proof of their “complicity,” as if Democrats have plans to punish dissenters, but we’re not paranoid, are we?




 

 

Category: Election

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